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THE DECISION BY former rugby player Gareth Thomas to speak publicly about living with HIV has been hailed as an important moment with campaigners saying the public reaction has been “really encouraging”.
Irish activist group Act Up works towards reducing the stigma surrounding HIV and supports a similar message to that shared by Thomas in his video on Saturday.
The former Wales rugby captain says he has been diagnosed with HIV but that he is on medication to the point that it is “considered undetectable” and cannot be passed on.
That message and the #cantpassiton hashtag Thomas shared is part of an effort to promote awareness of the fact that effective HIV treatment is also effective HIV prevention.
When someone is on effective treatment for HIV their viral load, the amount of virus in their blood gets very low. This is sometimes referred to as “undetectable”.
At this point, the chance of passing HIV to a sexual partner is zero, leading to the slogan “Undetectable equals Untransmittable”, or U=U.
It does not cure an individual of HIV but means they can live without it affecting their daily lives.
Act Up spokesperson Andrew Leavitt says it’s an important point that people should understand.
“I think a big part of the message is actually just letting people know that there is effective treatment for HIV and that if you can track HIV, and you have access to treatment, HIV is not going to have a huge impact on your health, that if you’re able to manage it and get the medications you’re going to remain healthy,” Leavitt says.
And of course, then the U=U message addresses this, this extra benefit that happens on top of that. Which is that effective treatment also prevents transmission of the virus through sex, so people with HIV don’t have to worry about passing on the virus to their partners, and their partners don’t have to be concerned. People can have children, without using any extra methods, they can just have sex.
Leavitt says this is understood to a greater or lesser degree in different countries but that Ireland perhaps lags behind in its understanding of this.
“It comes as a real surprise to people because people think of HIV as this very, very dangerous, very easily transmitted disease. And even without treatments, it’s not as easily transmitted as people think. But with the treatments, that risk is just eliminated entirely,” he says.
Thomas, who played 100 times for Wales, said he had decided to speak about his HIV diagnoses after blackmailers threatened to reveal it.
Leavitt says the circumstances surrounding Thomas being forced to speak about it are regrettable but that he way he handled it has been “absolutely superb”.
“I think for a lot of people seeing someone come out, and then seeing that there’s a positive, supportive reaction from the public is really encouraging, you know, for them to be able to talk to people in their lives about it.”
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He should reveal who they are, then they can hang their heads in shame.
Terrible to think anyone would use this information against someone, especially in this day and age.
@G to the de B: I agree, total monsters.
@G to the de B: fully agree, sick barstewards
Fair play to him. I wonder if the sleeveen f**kpigs who wanted to blackmail him will face prosecution?
I like Gareth Thomas from what I know about him as a human being. Strong, inspirational, courageous, passionate, yet open, humble and vulnerable. We can all learn alot from how he conducts himself. Nothing but admiration for the guy. BE WELL GARETH.
Thats terrible and despicable that they would blackmail him.
Fair play Gareth. Wonder how long twill take for this comments section to be closed???
It’s scary how the majority are ignorant to facts and science that a person with HIV on effective treatment cannot pass on the virus, in grotesque terms he/she/they/them whatever it is these days could have unsafe sex with 100 people and still not pass on the virus, they could have their life shortened by hpv though
U=U <3
I still struggle to grasp the endurance of stigmatic ideas that can literally terrorise people, where they feel that other people can weaponise their sexuality against them. Why does folk knowledge trump science? Because our govt have not invested in a vast public information campaign on U=U. Garrett Thomas is an interesting figure in that he felt compelled to buy the heteronormative script before realising this was not an authentic choice for him. And then the veneer of male toughness, a shamed armoury to conceal his sexual desires. Self-consciousness is such a socially determined story. I am happy that Gareth’s extreme self-sacrifice as a form of altruistic suicide did not take him out. The majoritarian impulse of status quo hierarchies – Psych, religious, legal and spiritualist and even activist logics still churn out characterological/inner hero-narratives. They personalise/individualise shackles in characterological deficit/shortcoming terms. An inner demon (restless, irritable and discontented). Is this not the near terrorising impulse of self-radicalisation? This man’s pain was primarily a social construction where he sought approval and sided with the majority view. Majority views can so easily chisel and punch and pummel above their weight. It takes courage to fight. Wake Up/Rise Up.
@Gerard Rodgers: what a busload of absolute bo 77 ockology. Why not stop and say good man Gareth? Takes courage Gareth.
The social commentary is a pitiful exercise in thumbs up.
Fair play to you Gareth, I’m not going to put you in a box. Your a brave courageous man who again shines a light on those that try to exploit you. A guiding light.
@Gerard Rodgers: Like Orwell said…never use a big word where a small one will do.
Just congratulate him on his bravery.
@Alan McDonald: I’d say he does the Times crossword every day
@Gerard Rodgers:
Gerard oh Gerard, have a word with yourself.
No on second thoughts, you have had enough
@Damien Murphy: 17 Across, 462 letters…
@Gerard Rodgers: Feel the anguish but also the verbiage.
Speak 4 yourself and be happy that you feel proud of him. As for the rest haven’t a bogs notion why you can’t recognise the world is full of heroes. Cheer up now
@Jamie O Sullivan: knock yerself out Jamie – go read his autobiography but your attention-span might struggle or maybe it might induce another tirade from you that what he spoke about in the book u could have captured in two sentences. Go on outta tha is all I say
@Alan McDonald: go to some other authoritarian regime page where ye tell others how to speak and what to say. Some brass neck.
@Mark Smith: join a barracks if u expect to be hold how to speak and what to speak – comical
We are living now in a state of celebrity, celebrities use to be famous for what they do or did FOR others but now celebrity is a selfish individual fame. To be famous now all you have to do is pee yourself?
So why was he crying on the TV for, it seemed faked to me. What makes him different from anyone else with it or from someone dying from cancer, are they not brave as well? The way society chooses the value of a person over another person is toxic in my view and people are lead around the place by the media. People say and feel kindness towards him but will the same people visit an elderly neighbour or be charitable to a stranger but no is the answer. People create false relationships with celebs and that is how celebs sell themselves and yet people won’t do the same with other people who would need their charity or company. In my view society has become fake where what other people think or feel becomes peer pressure or a way of life while they are absorbing fakery and lies as people live their lives through the power of the multimedia?
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